Half to john e



(N'o Model.) I r GISSINGER.

NUT LOOK. I No. 285,122. v Patented Sept. 18, 1883.

V Fig], v

WITNESSES JZMW m y .ing my improved locking-plate.

. UNITED STATES PATENT O rrrcsa SAMUEL GISSINGER, OF PITTSBURG, PENNSYLVANIA, ASSIGNOR OF 'ONE- HALF TO JOHN-R. LARGE, OF SAME PLACE.

NUT-LOCK.

SPECIFICATION forming part of Letters Patent No. 285,122, dated September 18 1883.

Application filed October 20, 1881?. (X0 model.) Patcntcdin England Aprilifi. 1882, No. 1,970.

To all whom, it may COhCZTH/J Be it known that I, SAMUEL Grssruenn, of Pittsburg, in the county of Allegheny, State of Pennsylvania, have invented a new and useful Improvement in Nut-Locks; and I do hereby declare that the following is afull and exact de- 7 scription thereof,-re fcrence being had to the accompanying drawings, and to the letters of reference marked thereon.

To enable others skilled in the art with which my invention is most nearly connected to make and use it, I will proceed to describe its construction and operation.

In the accompanying drawings, which form part of my specification, Figure 1 is a vertical cross-section of a railroadrail joint provided with my improvement. Fig. 2 is a side elevation. Fig. 3 is a view of the blank for form- Fig. 4 is a horizontal section on the line ac w of Fig. '1.

In the drawings, A A indicate two adjoin ing rails; B B, the fish-bars; O O, the bolts; D D, the nuts, and e the locking-plate, which is-preferably formed by cutting, as shown in Fig. 3, from a plate of iron or other suitable material. One side of thelocking-plate, or a portion, 6, thereof, is bent over to one side and forms the eye of the hinge. The other side is bent inward in the same direction at a right angle, so that when the locking-plate is laid down against the side of the fish-bar the lower edge will rest against the fish-bar. By cutting the locking-plate, as shown in Fig. 3,with a projecting portion, 6, .I provide means for forming the eye 6 of the hinge, and at the same time do not injure the lower edge of the nextpreceding blank, as the recess 6 thus formed does not destroy the utility of the plate. Thus I am enabled to out these blanks with great economy of material. The locking-plate is hinged-to a steel wire, f, which is passed through the eye and has its ends coiled so as to form washers f which are placed over the ends of two adjacent bolts, as shown in Fig. 4.

The wire f may be inserted into the eye 6 before forming the washers f, or the knuckle of the locking-plate may be bent around the wire after the washers are formed.

My improvement is used as follows: The washers f, as shown in Fig. 4:, are placed on the ends of two adj acent bolts, with the knuckle of the locking-plate placedinward. The lockingplate is then turned up and the nuts are screwed onto the bolts.

n will be noticed that the thickness of the locking-plate comes between the fish-bars and the w ire f, and that when the nuts D are screw ed down tight on the washers f the wire f will be bent inward at'the ends by the nuts and held out inthe center by the knuckle of the locking plate. This causes the wire to act as a spring,

which has a tendency to holdthe locking-plate down in position, and prevents it being jarred or turned upby accidental causes. After the nuts are secured their sides are turned parallel to the adjacent sides of the lockingplate, and then the plate is turned down between them, which thus opposes a straight side against the sides of the nuts, and will prevent the nuts from turning. of the bending of the wire f by the screwing down of the nuts is to cause the nuts to become jammed on the washers f, and to pre vent all tendency to their starting or unscrewing. washer ends f is normally adapted, when in the knuckle of the locking-plate, to stand away from the fish-ban and when the locking-plate is hinged to it-as described, and it is applied it to be deflected toward the fish-plate, with the spring action described.

I am aware that a locking-plate has been hinged to a slotted flat metal washer placed An additional effect The portion of the wire between its l to the joint, the screwing on of the nuts causes under the nuts; but such device difiers from mine not only in construction, but also in effeet, as nuts can be screwed more tightly down on a curved than on a flat surface, and consequently I obtain a better and tighter joint,

which is desirable on account of the sudden 0 and heavy jars to whichsaid joints are exposed. Moreovcr, the wire is adapted to form the pintle of the hinge without any preparation, and can be fitted for use by simply bending its ends to form the washers, while 5 the flat metal washer requires to be slotted for the application of the locking-plate, and punched for the passage of the bolts. My device is also much stronger, simpler, and altogether better fitted for use than the other device'above mentioned. p The construction'of nut -lock herein described and claimed differs essentially from that described in my former patent of April 4, 1882, in the following important particulars of construction and operation:

In the patent of 1882 the wire which forms the pintle of the hinge of the locking-plate is bent outwardly from the fish-bar, so as not to come in contact with it excepting at the two ends which rest against thefish-bar, without any spring action whatever against the under surface of the nuts. Furthermore, in the construction shown in that patent a curved spring is formed from an extension of the hinge portion of the plate, for the purpose of holding the plate down between the nuts. This spring-extension of the locking-plate is, however, objectionable in practice, for the reason that when the locking-plate is raised, as it must be to screw and unscrew the nuts, it is very difficult to get the end of the spring in between the knuckle of the hinge and the fish-bar, and that when in place the spring is very apt to be broken off by the jarring to which it is exposed, and is apt to break at the hinge, so as to detach the locking-plate entirely, and it would in any event necessitate the making of the entire locking-plate of the best quality of steel. It is an important 1nattor for these reasons to dispense entirely with the spring-extension, and I therefore make the locking-plate with a plain knucklethat is to say, without any spring extension or attachment, and provide otherwise for keeping the locking-plate in place between the nuts.

By my present improvement the spring action is entirely in the wire,which for that purpose is made of steel. The curl of the wire forming the washers for the nuts is immediately at each extremity of that portion of the wire which extends beyond the locking-plate at each end, and the intermediate portion forms the pintle of the hinge, the curved portion of the plate, which forms the knuckle of the hinge, passing round'the wire. By this construction, when the nut-lock is applied to the fish-bar, the wire does not touch it at any point, as the knuckle of the hinge holds it away; but when the nuts are applied to the bolts which are passed through the washers formed by curling the wire at each end, and are screwed down against those spring-wire washers, they are pressed down against the fish-bar, the wire on either side of the knuckle of the hinge being forcibly deflected, so that the spring-washers now bear with spring-action outwardly against the under sides of the nuts and the wire forcibly presses the hinge of thelockingplate against thefish-banthereby keeping the locking-plate securely in place when it is turned down between the nuts after they are screwed home.

By thus dispensing with a spring on the loekingplate, and transferring the spring action from the plate to the wire, I not only obtain the advantages resulting from the absence of the spring-extension before referred to, but I secure the additional effect of spring-washers under the nuts, while also keeping the locking-plate from derangement.

Having thus described my improvement, what I claim is- 1. As a nut-loek, the combination of a metallic locking-plate having a plain knuckle of a hinge formed at its upper edge with a rod or wire forming the pintle of the hinge, and bent around at each end, so as to form washers for nuts, substantially as hereinbefore described.

2. The combination, in a nut-lock for fishbars, of a spring-wire bent at each end,so as to form washers to encircle two adjacent bolts,

and a locking-plate hinged to said wire by a knuckle formed on the upper edge of said' plate and passing around said wire as its pintle, the wire, including the washers, being normally adapted to stand away from the fishbar by the interposition of the knuckle between the wire and the fishbar, whereby the screwing down of the nuts against said washers shall deflect the wire, thus causing it to act as a spring both on the locking-plate and on the under side of the nuts, substantially as described.

S. GISSINGER. Witnesses:

A. L. LARGE, CHARLES LARGE. 

